Mark Robins had plenty to say after watching his periphery players fall to a disappointing defeat to Arsenal Under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy.

The Sky Blues boss said the competition in which he led the team to victory at Wembley in 2017 is not a priority after making 11 changes to his side that beat Oxford United in the league on Sunday.

But the manager was expecting a lot more from his fringe players in the opening group game, which they lost 3-0 at the Ricoh Arena.

Here's everything the boss had to say after the game:

Disappointing

“It was a disappointing result.

“It’s a game where I have used it to look at players on the periphery of the team and they should have coped with it better than they did.

“I actually thought the younger players were OK, full of energy and enthusiasm. They just made one or two mistakes but senior players have got to be there to help guide them through and see them over the line.”

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“I think we created our own problems, went a goal down in the first three minutes when our shape was not right.

“It’s a poor ball, a set back from Jordy Hiwula that put Liam Kelly on his heels and they nipped in. And they’re sharp.

“Our shape wasn’t right for the recovery and they ran off the back of us and score a goal that was avoidable on probably three or four occasions before it got to the final shot.

“So it was a disappointing start and then we got into it.

“But they move the ball well and it’s a different type of football than we’re used to coming up against week in and week out; sharp, quick and incisive.

“But we got to grips with it and got on top, and most of the first half was ours after that but we lacked that cutting edge, that decisive burst and desire to get on the end of it.

“I am disappointed with that because that’s something you expect, to have the desire to get on the end of something in the penalty area.

“We got into some good areas and there were some good deliveries from Chris Camwell on the left hand side and some decent play from their goalkeeper, and when we go and did have the opportunities he’s either made the save or we have missed the target.

“It rounded off with Jordy Hiwula putting the ball wide at the post in the dying seconds of the first half, so we have had some good opportunities and not been incisive enough.

“They made a change in the second half, brought on a central defender and moved it around because Camwell was getting too much joy down the left and tried to nullify that, and did it fairly successfully.

“Once we made our changes, we were vulnerable and conceded another couple of goals, but Liam Kelly has come through OK in his first appearance since last season and we look towards Saturday and to put it behind us as quickly as we can.

“I’ve all along that we wanted to win it but the league is our priority.”

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Minutes

“I used the game to get players minutes but knowing what Arsenal’s capabilities are. You could see the quality and the amount of scouts that were down on the list, you can see why because they have some good players.

"Nketiah coming off the bench is a good player, and when he went through we gave him a gift and you never thought he was going to miss, and then it’s game over because we haven’t threatened enough in the second half.

“The quality of their finishing and movement is there for all to see. They are a really good young and quality side.

"It’s the first time they’ve been in this competition and they’ll be looking to see how they fared against the physicality and they’ve actually done well against that.

"It looked like we might get some joy out of it, and we got some decent crosses into the penalty area and we were trying to get on the end of something.

"We still need to learn how to get on the end of crosses. From their point of view, they will be delighted with their night's work. Not only did their early goal settle their nerves, it could have been a different story had we been sharper from the start.

"We get into good positions but we’ve not got that cutting edge. That group haven’t got that cutting edge yet. Tony Andreu has worked his socks off and looks sharp but you look at the front four and they make the wrong or a poor decision at the final hurdle when you’re looking to create something. We get into a good position and the chance goes begging.

"Whereas their movement was good, slick, crisp and clean. The cleaner you can hit the ball the better chance of scoring and they showed that tonight.

"It changed round more than I would have liked but Sterling had to come off and so did Kelly and Reise had got cramp so that change was made as well.

"But there’s been some good effort. You don’t want to be beat by anybody’s U21 team, including Arsenal's and they’ve got some exceptional players

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Sterling coming off, was that an eye on Saturday or risk of injury?

"Both. We’ve got to look at it and plan for Saturday and we’ll be in tomorrow and work towards that."

Return of Kelly

"I think that the positives are that we’ve been able to rest the players sufficiently ahead of Saturday and work with the players that we needed too.

"Sometimes you go to try and win the game you’ve got to have the will to go and do it and tonight, it’s sort of hamstringing because you’re looking at having to make two substitutions and you don’t make those substitutions if you’ve not got one eye for something else because they were players making a difference.

"I have to look at the bigger picture and get minutes into them without injuring them. It’s Kelly’s first start of the season. He’s played in a behind closed doors game before where you think he’s coming back but he broke down, so I didn’t want to overcook him.

"It’s the same with Dujon. He’s had this problem with a back spasm, but I thought he was really good tonight. He picked out some good passes he was decisive with his tackles, he won headers and knocked the ball down for people, put good balls in behind and some decent crosses as well.

"We looked a threat for 55 minutes to an hour until the changes were made so from that point of view if you’re looking for positives, that could be one but it’s also a negative. It is what it is tonight. "The league is far more of a priority than the Checkatrade this season."

How close is Liam Kelly?

"I don’t know is the honest answer. He’s obviously closer than he was this morning, he’s come through and we need to see how he is tomorrow morning and if there is a reaction to it.

"I’m told the symptoms are still there so we need to make sure we don’t force the issue and he spends more time out. It’s a suck it and see situation.

Young debuts for Morgan Williams, Zain Westbrooke and Billy Stedman a big positive?

"Absolutely. They’ve got potential and debuts don’t just get given away. If this is against Cheltenham or Forest Green this is a different scenario because they are playing against a different opposition with different qualities and different weaknesses.

"They (Arsenal) are like a European team aren’t they? The way they pass the ball and these are the top players at this level of U21s. They’ve won trophies and international honours and top money has been paid for them. So good luck to them, they play a great brand of football.

"I thought we matched them at times but the overriding thing for me is that for all the hard work we put in we let ourselves down in that final little bit with crosses or runs into the box – there’s just things that need to happen to flow and there is plenty of work to do.

"That was an opportunity for them to say ‘here I am, pick me’ and there is not many who have gone ‘ I should be in your first team’. There’s been a few decent performances, but they are performances you expect from certain players because they are reliable.

"Some of them struggled, they really did, against this type of football. Moved the ball too quickly, thought too quickly for them and by the time they realised or didn’t realise the ball’s in the back of the net or certainly behind them."